So Cal Metro posted this shot from San Diego of three of GM’s finest, all of them sporting Oregon license plates. Hmm. Are the Southern Californians buying up our finest cars too? Or is this someone who couldn’t take the endless rain and gray of this past winter?

So Cal Metro left this comment:

“A trio of Oregon-titled vintage General Motors vehicles have made their way south to the Golden State. Note to Paul on Curbside Classic Cohort: San Diego is where all your Eugene CC’s are disappearing to!”

Typical dodge of high Cali. license tag fees plus the smog tests…
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These used to be every where until the CHP decided to begin hammering them during commuting hours ~ they even hassled me in a Mexican Hertz rental once….
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-Nate

This seems like an odd use of police resources. You’d think they’d just end up “catching” a sizable number of tourists, short-term visitors, and rentals, as you say. Or are there enough people skirting the law to make it worth their while?

QDJ 964 was issued in the late 1980s VZT 557 was issued in the mid 1990s, and 265 DLP in the mid-2000s so I would say these vehicles were Oregonians for a while. I imagine sneaking by California’s smog test is not easy. Wonder if those are 2013 or 2007 stickers on the plates?

Nice photo and I like the Nova(?) in the middle. I imagine San Diego is similar to Los Angeles and having spent some time in South Central the scenery looks a bit familiar.

Preaching to the choir. Did the Malibu wagon come in a 2 door by then?

And I guess for flexibility. Maybe 99% of the time, it’s covered loads, but one day you have to bring home an appliance. Remove cap, deliver dishwasher, replace cap?

JFrank

Posted May 23, 2017 at 6:02 AM

Well, there was no 2 door wagon available, but still, no point in having a bed that is covered in my opinion. Have you ever tried to remove and replace a cap? At least a 2 person job, and not easy or quick. Again, I don’t see the point, but to each their own…..

Chris M.

Posted May 23, 2017 at 6:45 AM

The only thing I’ve heard that makes sense for one-person cap removal is to rig up a pulley system mounted to the roof of the garage. Drive underneath it, attach cables to cap, raise with pulley. Lower it back onto truck bed when next needed.

The factory skirts on the one on the left show it to be, as far as I know, a Fleetwood rather than the more plebian Sedan Deville. Far removed from the horrid 4100, these were actually decent cars. Plus no vinyl. Yes, I know, I have bad taste, blah blah blah.

I love bustleback Sevilles too, though this one is in pretty bad shape and the white vinyl roof is an abomination.

That generation of Elky? Can’t muster much love for it, but then again I’m not a fan of Colonnade-era A-bodies in general. With a few exceptions.

“Good luck to whomever getting those three cars through CA Emissions testing!”

California uses the same rolling roads and tailpipe sniffers as other state agencies. While you could argue Cali does a better job of policing fraud than other states, the actual test process is no more onerous than other state tests (including Oregon’s).

The only challenge related to older vehicles is accrued mileage- High mileage cars with burned valves, leaking rings or worn camshafts require internal engine work to pass, driving up the repair cost.

Bingo… and California had it’s own emission specs way back then that most other states did not follow. Tthere were 49 state cars and California cars. If these are the former, it could go badly. Also the cops are good at checking license plates… if they suspect out of state fraud, they could be given a Citation (V6-automatic) as punishment!

No very few states use the IM 240. For 96 and newer vehicles they often do not test actual emissions they just ask the computer if it thinks everything is OK. For the older cars in my state we just have to idle for a few seconds and run at a steady 25-35 mph for 10 sec of so.

The bigger issue is registering a vehicle that wasn’t equipped with CA or 50 state emissions from the factory. You pretty much have to prove that you were a resident of the state that it is registered in for a minimum period of time before moving the vehicle and yourself to the state.

In CA its only 2000 and newer that qualify for the OBD-II computer-only test. The last I checked, non-CA certified that is over 6 months or 7500 miles since first delivered new can be registered. Since a two-wheel dyno is used for the older cars, AWD or full-time 4×4 just get a 2500rpm and idle check. That dyno-loaded 15 and 25mph test is what got my BMW to fail.

The specs the tech must follow for up-shift points on a manual transmission car forced it into a lugging situation. Oh, and a CARB certified replacement cat is also more expensive.

I lived and drove both a ’67 MGB and a ’77 Dodge van in San Diego and it wasn’t easy, having to ‘worm-up’ jobs to pay for tags and insurance, and the Dodge was a Quebec van, and that Province SHARES its anti-smog ideas with California, so it’s unnerving that my car and van had to be shipped back to BC, and my friends in San Diego couldn’t use them, it’s madness! I hope that guy’s able to get those classics past the “Cal-Bec” toadies working smog details… I’m happy that I left SD, came to the NW and never looked back.

I think Montana is the most popular registration option for smog dodging in Southern California; though Nevada would explain a lot, too. Most of the Oregon plates I see in LA are on later model cars with “Romania” license plate frames, and heart-Oregon stickers, going to parks, restaurants, or popular neighborhoods–I never suspected them.

The odd thing here is it looks like the Elky and Seville are least likely to run, yet easiest to get onto the street.

Given the look of the house and the cars probably not in this case, but in San Diego the other reason for out-of-state plates is the military. Under most circumstances military personnel can register their cars in their home state. It’s not all that unusual to see cars with local dealer decals but out of state plates.

As a long-time (and now thankfully former) CA resident, it’s much easier to find a nearby county w/o testing, than travelling to another state. My “safe zone” was just 90 mins north of me, and the only reason I was able to enjoy my 280Z.